


A Hard Knock Life

by eerian_sadow



Series: Melodies of Life [2]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Alternate Universe, Community: dark_bingo, Gen, Minor Character Death, Pre-Canon, Pre-War, Slavery, Violence, world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-30
Updated: 2013-06-30
Packaged: 2017-12-16 17:16:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/864569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eerian_sadow/pseuds/eerian_sadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Without warning, everything can change from perfection to living hell.  And it does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Hard Knock Life

**Author's Note:**

> for the June 2013 mini-round at dark_bingo. I had a two-by-two card to black out, but real life kept me from finishing any fill but this one.

Sideswipe laughed as one of his brother's patrons told another terrible joke. The mech wasn't funny, and everyone in the room knew it, but he paid enough for Sunstreaker's art that the red mech could fake it. He grabbed a cube of high grade from a passing service bot and lifted it in a salute to the patron. The mech saluted in return and let Sideswipe drift away to mingle with more of the crowd.

The trader and art dealer let himself be dragged into a dance as the band began a tune especially popular with the young nobles at the party. They laughed as he got most of the steps wrong--delberately, as he and Sunstreaker had learned this dance long before the nobles had even heard the piece--but they were having a good time. When the set finished, one of the dancers gave Sideswipe a kiss that promised even more good times later.

And then there was a flash of light and the world ended.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"Sideswipe!"

The red mech groaned and tried to roll away. "Ten more kicks, Sunstreaker. I feel like I was hit by a hovercarrier."

"You were!" The urgency in his twin's tone broke through some of the trader's processor lag. "Get up, they're coming!"

"Who's coming?" Sideswipe struggled to sit up, activating his optics and taking his surroundings in with horror. "What happened?"

They were caged in an energy cube that was just large enough for them to sit up, but they would be fried offline if they tried to stand. There was an identicle cube on either side of them, each containing two more battered and frightened mechs, with more across from them and extending further into the room than he could see. Sideswipe recognized several faces from the art show after party, but most of their fellow prisoners were frightened strangers. The lights in the room were nearly blinding, forcing his optics to prevent burn out by shutting off the majority of his visual sensors. 

Heavy footsteps echoed through the prison, followed by shouts of protest and screams of pain.

"Slavers," the yellow mech replied softly. 

Sideswipe's fuel lines ran cold. He had heard the rumors that said slave rings were kidnapping mechs from the fringes of society, but he had never heard of any raid coming as far into the cities as their party had been. They had been almost in the center of Polyhex when the gallery was assaulted and the city enforcers should have been on scene before more than one or two people had been taken captive.

The implications of that were frightening. 

"Primus," Sideswipe whispered. "No one will even know where to begin looking for us."

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Starvation and fear were the first tools the slavers used to break them down. They didn't receive fuel for the first seven cycles of their captivity, as counted off by Sunstreaker's still functioning internal chronometer. Then, when the fuel was shoved through the energy wall by a savage looking mech with spikes on his shoulders and a sword for his left hand, there was only half a standard worker's ration to split between the twins. They split the ration even though their high performance systems wouldn't get far on so little, though some of the other prisoners within their line of sight weren't nearly as cooperative.

Across from them, one of the mechs who had attended Sunstreaker's gallery party clawed out the optics of the femme sharing his cell rather than give her any of the fuel. 

There were always pained screams from somewhere in the slaver's prison. Somewhere, someone was always being hurt, and it was enough to keep everyone on edge with the knowledge that it could be them next. They day Sunstreaker was pulled out of their cell, Sideswipe sprang out after him. He clawed, bit and kicked at the slaver restraining his twin, denting armor plates and tearing off one finger.

The slavers responded by shoving Sunstreaker back into the cell and giving Sideswipe his beating instead. They paraded him up and down their cell block after they finished, using him as an example of what happened when the slaves tried to fight their way free. Then they shoved him back into his cage with Sunstreaker, leaving his wounds untreated.

The blinding lights never went out.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Sunstreaker nursed his twin as well as he could for the next twenty seven cycles. They were given the same half-ration of fuel every seven cycles and left to listen to the screams of the other captives. 

Then, on the twenty eighth cycle, the slavers turned out in force, dragging the captives out of their cells and forcing them into neat lines in the walkways. The femme who's optics had been clawed out was shot through the spark when she was too weak to even lift her arms, which gave Sideswipe all the motivation he needed to stagger to his feet and stand in line next to his brother. Sunstreaker stood close enough that the red mech could lean on him if necessary. 

Once the captives were lined up--or executed and tossed to the side for parts--the leader of the slave traders led a well maintained warrior model femme into their midst.

The femme walked down the rows slowly, crimson optics taking in the minute details of the captives. Occasionally, she would reach out and tap a mech or femme on the chest plates and one of the slavers would drag the chosen off to another location. The warrior model had chosen ten or so, before coming to a stop before Sideswipe.

"This one is damaged," she said with a puzzled look.

The leader of the slavers shrugged one shoulder. "He was well enough to get up and stand in line."

Sunstreaker clenched his fists in anger as they talked about his brother like he was nothing but a drone. Sideswipe simply stared back at the femme, meeting her now curious gaze with his own.

"Strong willed." The femme smiled slowly and traced a clawed finger down the red mech's cheek plate. "I like that."

"Get your hand off my brother!" Sunstreaker snarled and slapped the warrior's hand down.

The slavers all raised weapons, but the femme waved them down with a laugh. "And spirited! Brothers, are you?"

Sideswipe nodded, not sure if it was the right answer or the wrong one. 

"An excellent find, then. You and your brother will be quite the spectacle, i think." The war frame gestured to one of her attendants, a hulking mech that seemed to intimidate even the slavers. "Take these two to the medic. Ensure that the yellow one is as free from damage as he appears and have the red one repaired. And do _not_ seperate them. I want a matched pair."

Sideswipe leaned against Sunstreaker as the hulking mech escorted them down the corridor of mechs and femmes. They were too tired and underfuled to be properly frightened. The promise of a medic drowned out any unease they would have had.

They stumbled with exhaustion and inability to care into their new life.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The medic was crazy, but competent. The huge mech who had escorted them was mute, but his optics saw everything that happened in their new "home". Their owner, and it grated on the twins' circuits to even think the word, was a pit boss.

Hard Bolt had them repaired, upgraded and then shoved into the fighting ring. They would learn, she said, the same way she had: through pain and spilt energon. They did learn, but not because either twin had a desire to fight.

It was live or die in the pits, and only those able to stand, however weakly, on their own feet were given repairs.

Sideswipe learned to stay on his feet through anything. Sunstreaker learned to destroy his opponents before they could touch him.

Sideswipe did his best to hide his despair as his brother's artist spark flickered and died. Even if they survived in the fighting pits, nothing could ever be the same again.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Their cycles passed, unchanging and drenched in a curtain of other mechs' energon, for just over a vorn. Hard Bolt was a difficult master on the best of days and brutal and abusive on the worst, but they had learned to predict her and thought that their lives had some level of routine and normalacy again.

At least, until she stepped into the training ring with them.

"The spectators are growing bored with your team work tactics." Hard Bolt tossed a pair of swords onto the floor. "Your next match will be against each other."

Sideswipe stared down at the swords. Sunstreaker glared at the pit boss.

"If you think that I'm fighting my brother," the yellow twin said darkly, "Then you can get slagged."

"You forget your place, _slave_." The femme's voice was just as dark. A moment later, Sunstreaker screamed in pain as she activated the control chip the medic had installed the day they arrived.

Before he realized what he was doing, Sideswipe swept up one of the swords and charged at her. Hard Bolt's optics went wide as the blade slid between two of her thinner abdominal plates.

Sunstreaker stopped screaming and slumped to the ground in relief.

Sideswipe twisted the sword and watched with satisfaction as energon spread from the wound.

"Traitor!" Hard Bolt hissed.

"No one hurts my brother," the red twin replied. He shoved their owner to the ground and turned to Sunstreaker.

This would probably end badly, but Sideswipe knew it was worth it.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Hard Bolt's right hand mech locked them up almost immediately. They waited in their cell for three cycles before anyone brought them news.

"You have been sold to a pit boss in Praxis." Hard Bolt delivered the news herself. She was barely able to stand and her patched abdominal plating had yet to be painted, but it was clear that none of her fury had faded. "The fool thinks he can control you, but I know you are worthless."

Sideswipe glared at her. "I'm only sorry I didn't kill you."

Sunstreaker nodded and said nothing.

Unhappy with the reactions she had received, the femme turned and walked away. Four cycles later, they were shoved into boxes like nothing more than fright and shipped to Praxis.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

They were unloaded into a room thhat was easily twice the size of their cell in Hard Bolt's pit. It was empty except for a pair of berths, a table and two chairs, but it was clean and had a door instead of cell bars.

The door still locked solidly, though. No matter how nice the trappings, they were still slaves and prisoners.

The large mech who had helped uncrate them gave the twins an appraising look. "Well maintained, if lacking in polish. But then Hard Bolt has always preferred brutality over any sort of good appearance."

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe stared back and said nothing. Their first few cycles in the medbay at Hard Bolt's pit had taught them to observe first and mouth off later.

"You are most certainly the performance models she promised, though." The large mech nodded. "With a bit of attention, your frames will match your potential."

"Potential? " Sunstreaker scoffed. Sideswipe elbowed him back into silence.

"Oh yes." The large mech grinned. "Any mechanisms who would stand up to their master the way you did will be a star in my pit."

"Your pit?" The red twin couldn't stop the surprised question. The mech in front of him looked like he had jsut stepped out of a fight.

"Yes, my pit. I am Crusher, your newest--and likely last--master." The pit boss gestured at the room arpund them. "These are your quarters, until you earn better . You will be required to fight regularly, but unlike the brute i purchased you from, i shall reward you for it. The more you fight,the more credits you will earn. Someday, you may even have enough to buy your freedom. "

"We can earn our way out?" Sideswipe knew he sounded awed, but the cycles they had spent with Hard Bolt had banished the idea of ever being free again from his processor.

"Yeah right." Sunstreaker laughed bitterly. "Tell us another one."

"I assure you that it is the truth. Tomorrow, when you go to train with my other fighters, ask which are freed mechs." Crusher stepped around them and made his way toward the door. "Foehammer will retrieve you in the morning for your first training session. I suggest you rest well before then."

"Wait!" Sideswipe cursed himself for his weakness as his low-fuel indicator pinged him. "What about energon? We haven't had fuel since before she sold us."

"That short sighted fool. If you are damaged, she will pay dearly." The pit boss frowned and gestured for them to follow. "Come, I will show you the way to the dining hall. Unless you are damaged, you will fuel there each cycle."

The twins stared in shock for several long moments. Regular fuel sounded too good to be true, and felt like the bait in some sort of elaborate trap.

Trap or not, though, they were too desperate to let the chance pass them by.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

As promised, Foehammer took them to their first training session in their new home. But only after a stop at the infirmary to have their control chips re-coded to respond to Crusher. It was a brutal reminder of how how little things had truly changed, no matter how kind their new master seemed to be.

Sideswipe felt all the hope he had found the night before die. Sunstreaker raged, sending two of their training partners to the infirmary. 

With bleak despair, the red twin found himself hoping they would suffer the kind of punishment Hard Bolt would have had for them. Death had to be better than life as a fighting slave.


End file.
